Summary of The SAP Ecosystem and Functional Software

Review Last time – we looked at various topologies for implementing enterprise systems This time – we will look at how SAP provides a “fairly” complete infrastructure for System configuration System development and customization System testing System deployment

Lecture Structure It’s a high-level overview of SAP / R3 Breadth not depth at this point I’ll breeze through many screens to demonstrate navigation through the SAP GUI

Course Simulations We will use three separate SAP instance throughout this course Global Bike configuration ABAP Web Dynpro And possibly some sort of integration tool

Introduction (Roles and Responsibilities) This is my taxonomy Developers customize SAP Administrators designate roles to other users and tune the system Responsible for security administration Responsible for deployment activities Implementers configure SAP Third party integrators interface SAP with other software packages And of course, the users

SAP Architecture (Introduction) Keep in mind that this is the most complex software package that you have ever seen It’s been around for a very long time and has remained backward compatible It’s written in and developed by Germans

SAP Architecture (Introduction) From BC ABAP Programming

SAP Logical Architecture (1) Underneath, there is a database and a database management system SQL Server, ORACLE and MaxDB are supported The R/3 Basis is really an operating system within an operating system The Basis is it’s own virtualization system too There is no user contact with the underlying operating system

SAP Logical Architecture (2) ABAP workbench is the development environment with which you write, debug, and test ABAP applications ABAP is the programming language of SAP and resembles COBOL An R/3 application has special meaning It’s an ABAP program It’s has a well-defined structure

SAP Logical Architecture (3) Our presentation component will be the NetWeaver program that you used in IS 365 All user interaction is through the presentation component

SAP Layers SAP is built using three layers

SAP (Database Layer) SAP interacts with other RDMSs (ORACLE, SQL Server, DB2, INFORMIX, etc… However, the database layer stores everything for the entire SAP “instance” ABAP code User accounts

SAP (Application Layer) Application servers run ABAP applications We typically have many of them The server group is load balanced Message server communicate state information between application servers More later

SAP (Presentation Layer) It’s NetWeaver We will not get into the topic yet but there is much that can be done with Netweaver The presentation layer interacts with the application layer in a very structured way As you complete screens, you perform dialog steps” Control passes back and forth between the presentation layer and application layer

SAP (Presentation Layer)

Application Server (Structure) Application servers are responsible for two things Dispatching work across a network of application servers Performing work (work processes) Execute dialog steps Gateways communicate with other application servers Shared memory is used to persist application context

Application Server (Illustration)

The SAP Programming Model (1) This discussion is based on the cardinal rule that the database can never be left in an inconsistent state or a transaction be lost But we might have thousands of users concurrently recording transactions You should see the synchronization problem

The SAP Programming Model (2) Executing an application (transactions) is done by completing one or more dialog screens Each screen is called a dialog step Each dialog step corresponds to a database Logical Unit of Work LOW ABAP provides constructs to bundle several DB LUWs into a SAP LOW

THE SAP LUW

Structure of a Work Process

Types of Work Processes Work processes have different types Dialog work process work with user requests to execute dialog steps Update processes execute database updates that are parted of a bundled SAP UOW Background processes are executed without user interaction Enqueue processes are used for locking Spool processes are used for printing and archiving

Summary An applicationprogram has one or more screens which are processed by the screen processor of a work process The processinglogic of a program gets data from screens, processes it, and returns data to screens

Screens Unlike the VB form with which you are familiar, the ABAP screen is much more structured Two types Screens have a definition and flow logic created using a screen painter Selectionscreens and lists provide a simplified way to select data for a list or report

ABAP Program Structure ABAP programs execute within individual dialog steps A program is divided into processing blocks

ABAP Program Declare global data here Create selection screen definitions Dialog modules, event blocks, and subroutines are all processing blocks We will delve into the structure more later

Types of ABAP Programs (1) A program’s technical attributes and capabilities are determined by its type Type1 programs are executable programs They do not need to be controlled by screens Type 1 programs are often called reports Type M programs are controlled through screen flow logic and must be started from a transaction code

Types of ABAP Programs (2) TypeF programs are function modules containing reusable function TypeI programs are includes Includes just break up programs into smaller chunks.

Administrator (Overview) Performance User and role management Deployment of test and production systems

Administrator (Tuning) Significant system management and performance tuning is necessary in large enterprises We can tune and monitor memory management In some enterprises we have HTTP and other services System monitoring

Administrator (Users)

Administrator (User Groups) User groups allow user administration to be distributed among several administrators Groups are also used to perform “mass maintenance” on several users Transaction code SUGR to show user groups

Administrator (Roles) Access to resources is granted through roles Roles are hierarchical and have different types Single roles contain authorization data Composite roles are created using multiple composite roles, which are then assigned to users SAP ships with predefined bundle of standard roles (single and composite)

Administrator (Roles) Transaction code PFCG to view roles We are in role ZFS_FAGL

Administrator (Deployment) SAP manages deployment of system changes from development to training to test to production Other system types can be defined The process is called transport (more in a moment)

Administrator (Other) Data Must be archived System performance needs to be monitored and tuned

Implementer (Introduction) In my opinion a formal definition gets a bit fuzzy here We use the IMG to configure (customize) the system We use the SAP system itself to create all sorts of “master data” Production schedules You did some of this in IS 365

(IMG) Introduction IMG is short for Implementation Guide It contains all of the actions to implement, control and document the SAP system General Settings Enterprise Structure Financial Accounting And all of the functional sub systems

(IMG) General Settings Country settings (countries in which we do business) Currencies in which we do business Public calendars containing holidays, workday configuration Once configured these are either hard to change or cannot be changed

(IMG) (Illustration)

IMG (Enterprise Structure) Here, we describe our organizational structure to the SAP system (Organizational Units) It’s not easy to change the organizational structure once it has been created

IMG (Enterprise Structure – Parts) Financial accounting Controlling accounting Logistics Sales Materials Management Plant Maintenance Production HR

Definement and Assignment Configuration of the enterprise structure (and many other components) requires a two-step process Definement Create organizational structures Assignment Assign those organizational structures to other organizational structures

Definement and Assignment (Examples) You define company codes and assign them to a company You define credit control areas and assign them to a company code There are hundreds of these We will get through many of the core functions in this course

IMG – Business Configuration (BC) Sets In this class, we will “globally” configure system elements using the “SAP Reference IMG” In practice, we use BC sets BC sets can be created for specific processes These BC sets can be deployed separately SAP provides numerous BC sets for industries and industry sectors We can create our own BC sets too

BC Set (Implementation) Types: Simple BC sets contain configuration data Hierarchical BC sets contain other BC sets The hierarchy can be nested Attributes Name Type Release information Change information (person, date time)

SAP Transport (1) In SAP, instances (clients) are provisioned into different types Development (created from production backups) After development is complete, the system is copied to a “test / QA” system Then to a “consolidation system” Finally, the test system is deployed to the production system Custom intermediate systems can also be created

SAP Transport (2) The Transport Organizer is the tool used to mange transport of BCs and development code from one instance to another Transaction code for the Transport Organizer is SE01 STMS for the Transport Management System

SAP Development THIS IS A MONSTER Unlike most development environments you are used to, all code (programs) are stored inside of the SAP instance itself Code is deployed using transports mentioned previously There are different types (categories) of code

SAP Development (Interface) The ObjectNavigator is the entry point into the ABAP objects (programs) (Transaction code SE80) The ABAP Editor is used to create, edit, test, and debug ABAP applications The Data Browser lets you look at the SAP tables from the SAP / ABAP API … And Much More

Object Navigator It’s used to organize programing in the SAP integrated development environment Repository Browser is the primary code storage area The Repository Information System is used to search for programming objects The Transport Organizer manages changes made during configuration and development and propagates (transports) changes to test and production systems

Object Navigator (Illustration) Select object type from Object List

Repository Browser (Object Lists) The application hierarchy contains all development objects A package contains logically related development objects In this class, we will create local objects, which are not transported to QA / production systems

Packages (Contents) Packages contain many things Programs containing fields, events, subroutines, screens, and so on Function groups are containers for functions (external procedure calls) Dictionary objects contain (roughly speaking) references to SAP data Remember, all data is processed through the SAP API SHOW PACKAGE FARC

Classes / Interfaces SAP supports an OOP approach to development using classes and interfaces

SAP Runtime Architecture (1) SAP Basis is the fabric on which all sap applications run This fabric runs on top of a host OS UNIX (AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, Linux) Windows … IBM mainframe systems ABAP program execution is managed by the ABAP (managed runtime) and the SAP kernel

SAP Runtime Architecture (2) A SAP system consists of One or more instances (application server) accessing a centralized database containing All data All programs (ABAP and other) The database interface handles marshals communication between the SAP system and the relational database

SAP and the Database SAP uses a logical database We don’t usually touch the underlying ORACLE / SQL server / whatever database ABAP programs are stored in the SAP database SAP supports IBM DB2, Informix, MaxDB, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server A similar model exists for the Web application Server

Transactions Roughly speaking, a logical unit of work In the SAP context, it means a calling and executing an ABAP program that perform an indivisible operation on data Corresponds to a transaction code

ABAP (History) Acronym: AllgemeinerBerichtsAufbereitungsProzessor Generic report preparation rocessor AdvancedBusiness Application Programming Created back in the 1980s Looks very much like COBOL SAP itself, is written in ABAP

ABAP (Introduction) There are two types of executable (ABAP) programs Reports Enter a set of parameters Generate a report based on those parameters Module pools More complex screen and flow logic (these are dynprosor dynamic programs)

ABAP (Creating a First Report) Activate the ABAP Editor (Transaction code SE38 ) You must have the developer key I gave you) Create a program Save and activate the program Run the program

ABAP Editor (Initial Screen) Start program names with Z_ as in Z_Ekedahl (Some names are prohibited by SAP)

ABAP Editor (Create / Change Attributes) Type: for now Executable Program but other program object types are selected here Status: We will create Test Programs

ABAP Editor (Specify the Package) Executable programs belong to a package There is a “special” package named $Temp that is never transported

ABAP Editor(Creating the Code) My opinion – it’s a pretty good development environment Supports intellisense, code highlighting, and a robust debugger Most of you have never seen COBOL, but it looks like COBOL!

ABAP Editor (Creating the Code) REPORT statement names the program The argument Z_EKEDAHL is the name of my first report Statements end with a period WRITE statement prints to the output (report) stream

Run the Report To run a report, it must be activated Programs must be activated after they are saved Press F8 to run

Getting Started with the ABAP Dictionary Remember that we work with data logically through ABAP, rather than operating on the physical database The database layer supplies extensive metadata beyond most native databases Transaction code SE11 gets us to the ABAP dictionary Transaction code gets us to the DataBrowser We will look at MARA (Material Master Record)

Data Browser Select the desired table You need to know the table names and meaning of fields

Data Browser (Table Output)

ABAP Dictionary Search for table

Summary of The SAP Ecosystem and Functional Software